A Japan Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner jet aircraft is surrounded by emergency vehicles while parked at Logan International Airport in Boston Jan. 7.

(This story is being updated with new information, see below)

After an electrical fire and battery explosion on a parked Boeing 787 Dreamliner yesterday, another bad headline for the troubled new high-tech jet: today a Dreamliner headed from Boston to Tokyo with 178 passengers on board returned to the terminal due to a fuel leak.

“Massport crews are on the airfield containing a fuel leak from an outbound Japan Airlines flight to Tokyo. The venting of fuel has stopped. The flight will return to the gate and be evaluated further at that time,” Boston’s Logan International Airport said in a statement.

From the WSJ’s Jon Ostrower and Jack Nicas:

The plane on Tuesday was taxiing toward the runway to take off for Tokyo when it started leaking fuel out of its left wing, said Matthew Brelis, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Airport Authority. At about 12:25 p.m. local time, the plane stopped and the leak stopped, Mr. Brelis said.

Airport crews are now on the taxiway cleaning up the spill, which Mr. Brelis estimated was 40 gallons of jet fuel. The plane, which is still full of passengers, will then be towed back to the gate for evaluation, Mr. Brelis said.

As Ostrower and Nicas reported today, glitches in the brand-new Dreamliners are to be expected, but the nature of the problems and their timing is becoming an ever-growing headache for Boeing, which repeatedly delayed production of the state-of-the-art new craft, frustrating customers. The fire yesterday was especially troubling:

“This [incident] goes to the heart of the innovative side of the 787,” said Hans Weber, president of TECOP International Inc., an aviation consulting group that specializes in aircraft certification. Mr. Weber remained concerned that spate of electrical issues aboard the 787 could make it more difficult for the plane to fly extended missions far from diversion airports.

Boeing traced the cause of the 2010 fire to a stray item left inside a power panel, which—along with electrical software—was redesigned to prevent any repeat. It is still trying to determine what caused the panel problem in the United 787.

Glitches are common for new aircraft, but the 787 has faced a number of problems with its engines and electrical system in recent months. Boeing and airlines recently replaced power panels inside the bay on at least five Dreamliners stemming from the New Orleans emergency. A Qatar Airways 787 was grounded the same month for repairs after power panel issues.

UPDATE: Over at MarketBeat, the WSJ’s Steven Russolillo is looking at how Wall Street analysts following Boeing are responding to the latest safety problems. Money quote, from Carter Leake, an analyst at BB&T (emphasis ours):

While we have complete confidence that Boeing will ultimately rectify this problem, our experience has shown that random electrical issues with aircraft can be very difficult to troubleshoot.If the problem is in the software, there are millions of lines of code to examine. If the problem is in the wiring there are over 50 miles of wiring and 50,000 connectors that could be the cause. Hardware problems are the easiest to fix, but at this stage we find it hard to believe the problem is related to such highly tested items. The fact that Boeing (1) made major replacements of traditional copper wire with aluminum wire and (2) for the first time in its history outsourced the production and installation of its electrical connection systems only increases our concern that this issue may be more difficult to solve than most are assuming.

UPDATE II: In another line of bad news for Boeing coming out today – a scoop from the WSJ’s Jon Ostrower and Jack Nicas:

United Airlines found improperly-installed wiring on one of its Boeing Co. 787s, as operators of the new jet inspected their fleets in the wake of the electrical fire suffered Monday on a Japan Airlines Co. Dreamliner parked at Boston airport, according to a person with knowledge of the U.S. carrier’s actions.

United examined electrical components associated with the auxiliary power system, or APU, inside a small compartment underneath the cabin of the Dreamliner, an area known as the aft electrical equipment bay, said a person familiar with the inspections.

The person said United found an improperly installed bundle of wires that connect to the APU battery, a unit that JAL and fire officials said ignited the blaze on the Dreamliner at Boston’s Logan International Airport after passengers had deplaned.

Comments (5 of 101)

[...] January 8, 2013 A separate Japan Airlines 787 cancels take off due to a fuel leak [...]

3:56 pm January 9, 2013

Conservative Professor wrote:

Unions behind Dreamliner problems? Disqualifyer: I've not had time to read all of the posts here, but I suspect a disgruntled group of union employees doesn't want Dreamliners produced in South Carolina.

3:12 pm January 9, 2013

John Galt wrote:

What do you expect? Boeing is a union shop - do you really think unions care if planes crash? It would not surprise me one bit if the union THUGS did this on purpose.

When the DOJ sued boeing for the audacity of opening a new plant in North Carolina (or was it South Carolina?), a right to work state, Boeing should have shut down all operations in the US and moved all of their business overseas. The employees/unions DO NOT VALUE THEIR JOBS, EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE WAY OVERPAID. SCREW EM ALL.

2:12 pm January 9, 2013

DaveHolden wrote:

MadeinUSA - well said.

1:53 pm January 9, 2013

MadeinUSA wrote:

@ghost -- you're either an idiot or someone who stood to benefit $ from an Airbus Contract. The consortium that is Airbus - would aptly be described as 'dirty'. When will American's wake up (again, I have my doubts about whether ghost is an American) and realize there is no such thing as free/fair trade. We have been loosing the warfare that is trade. Since 1975 over $8Trillion dollars has been lost in trade imbalances, that is money that could have recirculated here, built up capital equipment and R&D. Americans love to trade - since the 1600s we have traded with everyone around the world in a successful fashion -- however, we cannot continue the trade imbalances we've had since 1975.